The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations supports the call from health care professionals for the provincial government to reverse its recent changes to harm reduction services.

Earlier this month Mental Health and Additions Minister Tim McLeod said the government would no longer provide money to third-party organizations for drug pipes and needles would provide on an exchange basis so they would have to be returned before another could be handed out.

He believes it sends the wrong message when the health care system should be focused on hope for recovery.
After the announcement, the Executive Director of Prairie Harm Reduction, Kayla DeMong, said she understands it looks like supplying needles and pipes enables addicts, but what PHR is doing is helping these people stay alive and pointing them in the direction of recovery.

First Vice-Chief of the FSIN, David Pratt, responsible for the Health Portfolio, says Saskatchewan’s HIV rates are among the highest in North America and nearly 80 per cent of those diagnosed in the province are Indigenous.

There is an increased risk of transmitting HIV with a dirty needle.

He believes the government’s approach will do nothing to address the HIV and addictions crisis because it blames the victim and does nothing to address root causes.